Account Recovery form

If you find yourself locked out of your account and none of your other recovery options work, your last option is to visit our password-assistance page and fill out our Account Recovery form. Enter your username, type the characters in the distorted image, and click the link at the bottom of the following page to verify your identity and access the form.

Take time to fill out each section of the form to the best of your ability. It was designed to ensure that no one can gain access to your account except you.

Since Google doesn't collect a lot of information about you when you sign up for an account, we'll ask you questions like when you created your account, what Google services you use, and who you email frequently (if you use Gmail).

If you fill out the recovery form and aren't successful on the first try, you can try again (some users might also see a link for additional password help). Make sure to wait until you receive our reply before you submit another report. Important: Try to provide as much information as possible on each attempt. Each submission is evaluated independently.

If you're unable to recover access to your account using the recovery form, you can create a new account. Gmail usernames cannot be recreated, so if you were using Gmail, please pick a new username.

Why is it so hard to recover a Google Account?

At Google, we take your privacy and security very seriously, and we will only return an account when we’re sure that it’s being returned to the account owner. Because Google doesn't ask for much personal information when you sign up for an account, we don't have many ways to verify that you own an account. The best way to make sure that you can regain access to your account if you get locked out is to keep your recovery options updated, and you can use these options on our password assistance page.

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Kaley is on the Accounts support team and author of this help page. Please leave suggestions below on how to improve her article.